Mamata Banerjee proposes to start Diploma Course in Medicine
West Bengal Chief Minister and Minister-in-Charge of Health and Family Welfare Mamata Banerjee asked state health secretary N S Nigam to look into the legal aspects of starting a diploma course in medicine to address the shortage of doctors.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed the idea of introducing a diploma course in medicine, aiming at combating a “shortfall” of doctors in hospitals in the state.
The CM, who is also Minister-in-Charge of Health and Family Welfare, asked state health secretary NS Nigam to look into the legal aspects of starting such a course to train more doctors for primary healthcare units.
“You (Nigam) please find out whether we can start a diploma course for doctors, just like we have for engineers. Several boys and girls will get the opportunity to enroll for the medical course,” Banerjee said at a review meeting of ‘Utkarsh Bangla’ held at the state secretariat here, as reported by The Print.
She asked the health secretary to establish a four-member committee to look into her proposal and advise him about it. She said senior doctors and professors could be engaged to train those who enrol for the diploma course. The Chief Minister also directed Nigam to explore whether a law can be framed to elevate senior nurses as “semi-doctors” for training purposes.
She said the regular MBBS course takes at least five years for one to be a medical graduate, and asserted that the diploma course “would address the shortfall of doctors.”
“We get doctors after a training period of five years which is a long time. In all these years, they have to study hard and sit for examinations. Besides, we utilise them as junior doctors across different hospitals while they are still studying. Since there has been an increase in the number of seats, hospitals and patients, we can think about developing a diploma course as well. These doctors could be employed at primary healthcare units,” she added.
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